Peanut Board elects four new directors

The Texas Peanut Producers Board elected (or re-elected) four board directors during elections held in January. Each person elected will serve a six year term, or until the year 2016.

Haldon Messamore of Sudan and Otis Johnson of Seminole were re-elected to their seats in Voting Region one, while Jeff Roper of Plains was elected to serve his first term as TPPB director for this region. Winning the at large seat, which consists of all 254 counties in Texas, was Luther Don Keith of Dublin.

Prior to the elections, TPPB had divided the state into four separate voting regions. These voting regions allow for board directors to more closely represent the peanut interests of a particular region of the state, and to provide representation for all Texas peanut producers on the board. As there are 12 board seats on TPPB, the voting regions are designed for 10 of the 12 seats to represent a percentage of peanut production in Texas as reported by the Texas Crop Reporting Service, with the remaining two seats being at large and representing the entire state. The Texas Department of Agriculture approved the voting region plan.

The four new board members will be sworn in during TPPB's spring board meeting in Lubbock by Lance Williams, Texas Department of Agriculture.

Press releases and legal notices on the election were sent to all major newspapers in the state where elections were to occur. The voting period was from January 9, 2010 to January 23, 2010.

The next election will be in the spring of 2012 with four seats up for election.